Out-Of-State Trucker Charged After Striking City Overpass

An Oklahoma man who police say stole a trailer was sent to Jamestown City Jail on Wednesday morning after driving his truck into a train viaduct.

Rudolf Fokumlah, 54, of Oklahoma City was traveling south on North Main Street when he drove his 13-foot-tall tractor-trailer into the Western New York and Pennsylvania railroad overpass near First Street. The overpass has a posted clearance of 12 feet.

Jamestown Police responded to the property-damage accident at 10:38 a.m. and learned the trailer had been reported stolen from Irving, Texas on March 21 by the Irving Police Department.

Fokumlah was uninjured in the accident and the viaduct did not appear to be damaged in the accident but will be inspected today to check for structural damage.

Fokumlah will be arraigned in City Court today at 9:30 a.m. on charges of third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, failure to obey a traffic control device, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation and violating New York State Tax Law for not having a permit. Fokumlah’s driving privileges in New York were previously suspended for not answering a December 2012 traffic ticket.